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Richard Cohen's columns have appeared on the op-ed page of The Washington Post since 1984. He joined The Post in 1968 after attending the Columbia ...
Read more about Richard Cohen.
Richard Cohen's columns have appeared on the op-ed page of The Washington Post since 1984. He joined The Post in 1968 after attending the Columbia ...
Read more about Richard Cohen.
Sarah Palin: A Case Study
Richard Cohen
I saw the other day that George W. Bush is raising money for his
proposed policy institute at Southern Methodist University. I did some
research and found out that there are something like 3,000 policy
institutes, most of them hosting convocations about nothing much and
issuing papers no one reads. I suggest therefore that Bush use his
money to do something truly different and constructive -- establish
the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin. My check is in the mail.
This is Palin Week -- days of interviews relating to the publication of her book, "Going Rogue." She will appear virtually everywhere, making her usual good impression, and there will be more talk about how she might run for president. Someone will point out that she is even scheduled to soon go to Iowa -- and you know what that means.
On the other hand, someone else will point out that the very week Palin is promoting her book, the current president is abroad attending meetings in Asia, including a visit with our Chinese bankers. Could those who fault Barack Obama for being callow and inexperienced imagine Palin meeting with the Chinese or, for that matter, conducting a protracted policy review about Afghanistan? As for Pakistan, South Korea, North Korea, the Middle East and, of course, the perplexing Georgian-Abkhazian conflict -- I don't think she is quite up to it all, some of those nations not being close to Alaska at all.
This being the case, the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin should look into how she was chosen by John McCain as his vice presidential running mate -- and why McCain, given absolute proof of abominable judgment and the sort of sorry political opportunism he built a career decrying, has not repaired to a monastery and taken a vow of absolute silence since almost anything he has to say post-Palin has to be judged by his choice of her.
A further area of study ought to deal with the mindset of McCain's former campaign aides who continue to criticize Palin for not turning out to be the mute puppet they had so hoped she would be. That she went rogue I have no doubt -- but this was only after they went stupid and helped pick her in the first place. They live in political ignominy for not resigning from the campaign when it counted.
The Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin might conclude that she represents the exact moment important Republicans gave up on democracy. She was clearly seen as an empty vessel who could be controlled by her intellectual betters. These include the editorial boards of The Weekly Standard and The Wall Street Journal, neither one of which would hire Palin to make an editorial judgment but would be thrilled to see her as president of the United States. It does not bother these people in the least that the woman is a demagogue -- remember "death panels"? -- and not, on the face of it, very responsible. If she quit as governor of Alaska in the noble pursuit of money, might she quit as, say, vice president or president for the same reason? From what I hear, one can never be too rich.
I suppose, too, that the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin would issue oodles of papers on our celebrity age and how she, after all, is just another one. Like most celebrities, she is a vehicle for the sale of something: a book, a magazine, a TV program or a diet regime. This is essential, for we are a vast country without much industry and so we rely on the production of fame, which is what we now do best -- cars and steel and 20 Mule Team Borax being a distant memory.
Finally, the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin will mull what she represents. She has a phenomenal favorability rating among Republicans -- 76 percent -- who have a quite irrational belief that she would not make such a bad president. What they mean is that she will act out their resentments -- take an ax to the people and institutions they hate. The Palin Movement is fueled by high-octane vile and it is worth watching and studying for these reasons alone.
It may be asking too much of Bush to put his money into something useful instead of the standard presidential monument of self-aggrandizement. This, though, is his chance: Study Sarah Palin. If she's a comer, then we're all a goner.
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Richard Cohen's e-mail address is cohenr@washpost.com
Copyright 2009 Washington Post Writers Group
This news arrived on: 11/17/2009
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Posted Comments:
11-21-2009 23:51
Joe wrote:
don't worry, old cowboy...
JCE's screed was directed at me. See, the self-described conservative Leftist is following his regular MO: He rants without citing many facts. I rebut him with an actual argument and some facts. Then he rants again, restating his baseless opinions without basically acknowledging what I said.
Apparently since I don't live in Alaska, I am not qualified to hold an opinion of Palin. I wonder if JCE felt the same way about his opinion of George W. Bush, who hailed from Texas when he was elected to President in 2000, and where I use to live. Imagine if I said at the time to all the out-of-state critics of Bush that their opinions are bull because they don't live in Texas. First of all, I wouldn't because it is a stupid claim--that's right JCE: STUPID. Secondly, all of you would see that claim for the junk that it is.
JCE, you can flash your specious Alaskan creds all day, but you're not going to convince people that Sarah Palin is bad until you make a cogent argument.
You say everyone knew about the corruption on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and yet no one did anything about it. If what you say is true, this reinforces the fact that Sarah Palin showed moral courage by actually doing something about it while no one else did nothing.
Apparently since I don't live in Alaska, I am not qualified to hold an opinion of Palin. I wonder if JCE felt the same way about his opinion of George W. Bush, who hailed from Texas when he was elected to President in 2000, and where I use to live. Imagine if I said at the time to all the out-of-state critics of Bush that their opinions are bull because they don't live in Texas. First of all, I wouldn't because it is a stupid claim--that's right JCE: STUPID. Secondly, all of you would see that claim for the junk that it is.
JCE, you can flash your specious Alaskan creds all day, but you're not going to convince people that Sarah Palin is bad until you make a cogent argument.
You say everyone knew about the corruption on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and yet no one did anything about it. If what you say is true, this reinforces the fact that Sarah Palin showed moral courage by actually doing something about it while no one else did nothing.
11-21-2009 22:39
old cowboy wrote:
to JCE
Don't know if your last post was directed at me but if it was you misunderstood my post. My post was saying that just looking at the ultra-right that support her and listening to her interviews tells me she can't be a good thing for our country.
11-21-2009 21:47
JCE wrote:
Perhaps if you lived up here, you might know something other than voting rhetoric. I bet you believed that she was against the bridge to nowhere. I bet you think that she wasn't guilty of any of the ethics violations. She was a lot like Bush, took a surplus, spent it all on the wrong things, and had to have someone else really run things. She did make us a lot of promises, but didn't keep them. You tell me that I know nothing about what happens in my state, my home, a place of less than 2/3s of a million people. What arrogance. I don't tell you about your governors, or your mayors. Because I don't know anything about them. But then, your mom didn't support any of them, go to hockey games with them, have lunch with them, or ever go to the governors mansion. How could I know anything about Alaska or its politics? Even with a family who lives in Wasilla, even reading the local papers, discussing it with the locals, my neighbors, even knowing people who she got vindictive on, how could I know any more about my state than I know about yours? Even watching Fox news, even listening to the Palin news for years, how could I know anything? Even tho I have stated many facts on here, about her, that have been well substantiated, how could they be any more than lucky guesses? You have all the answers, you tell me. For your info, that whistle blowing nonsense is horse manure. Everyone knew it was happening, just no one did anything about it. She wanted to run, so she said what she needed to. She got in, and didn't make anything any better. Sound familiar? Remember, she is a typical republican.
11-21-2009 19:58
old cowboy wrote:
Listening to Ms Palen
addition. Then whe could continue to watch Russia from her house.
11-21-2009 19:57
old cowboy wrote:
Listening to Ms Palen
I do not live in Alaska and do not know all of the facts about her political career but I have listened to her interviews both during the campaign and during this tour promoting her strange overpriced little book written with a ghost writer.
When she can't answer the questions served up by the fawning bunch at Fox "news" I have to question her abilities.
If anyone is supported by those like Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, O'Reilly and others of their ilk I would automatically be very wary.
I feel the same way about those supported by the nuts on the far left.
Again I have listened to her and in my opinion she is an air-head who does little but whine and complain about how she was treated.
I have said in other posts: She should go back home, have some more kids, shoot some more animals from airplanes and follow her husband on the snow mobile circuit.
When she can't answer the questions served up by the fawning bunch at Fox "news" I have to question her abilities.
If anyone is supported by those like Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, O'Reilly and others of their ilk I would automatically be very wary.
I feel the same way about those supported by the nuts on the far left.
Again I have listened to her and in my opinion she is an air-head who does little but whine and complain about how she was treated.
I have said in other posts: She should go back home, have some more kids, shoot some more animals from airplanes and follow her husband on the snow mobile circuit.
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